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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Oreo Biscotti...

Jeff has been asking that we work Oreo's into the Weekly Wednesday Treat Day for a few weeks now and I made good on the promise that I would by making these Oreo Biscotti.

Unlike many of the biscotti on our website that we've made in the past, this recipe has a bit of butter included. When you use only eggs as the liquid to bind the dry ingredients together, the resulting biscotti will be especially crispy and firm. However, if you introduce a fat like butter, as with these biscotti, it doesn't take away the crispness, but adds a tenderness that some prefer.

While there are the customary ingredients - sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and of course, the butter - these biscotti get a funky speckle to them by mixing in coarsely chopped Oreo's into the mix. Why, pray tell, are there red streaks in our biscotti? Well, apparently the Oreo's we had in the pantry were stuffed with a red filling rather than white - makes for an interesting appearance if nothing else! And no, there is no reason to scrape out that sweet filling before chopping the cookies - everything goes in here! You might find the dough a little on the sticky side when it has combined, but just scoop the mass onto a lightly floured surface and you should be good to go. You are not looking to add much flour to the dough, just enough to keep it off your fingers.

After dividing the dough in half and shaping each into a loaf, we left them to bake until the tops were golden and firm to the touch. I don't like biscotti to cool completely before slicing them - I usually let them cool just long enough that I can comfortably handle the warm loaves. I find they crumble more if they do cool all the way - also, to aid in the prevention of any crumbling, I've been using the method of spritzing the tops of the baked loaves with water and letting it gently soften the crust for a few minutes before sliding my serrated knife through. Don't worry about this making them soggy - as soon as the slices go in for their second bake, any extra moisture will quickly evaporate and leave you with the crispness you crave.

Also, don't forget - you do have a bit of leeway with the texture. If you want them to be a little more softer to the tooth, you can take them out about 10 or so minutes before the timer goes off during the second bake. Once the slices had a chance to cool down, we topped them off a duo of melted chocolate drizzles on top for a swanky finish. Now that I've made them and we both give them a big thumbs up, I have a feeling it is going to be a challenge to convince Jeff he has to take them in to share!

Okay... we've talked about the sweet treats we are sending in tomorrow, it is time to move over to the savory side! If you've been wanting to serve more than a couple omelets for dinner and don't have enough pans (or patience!) to either get them all done at the same time, this Rolled Omelet with Spinach and Cheddar I made for dinner tonight is a recipe you might want to try!

To help ease the eggs out of the pan and give you a helper handle to roll them up, you'll want to spray or brush it well with oil and stick on a sheet of parchment paper. Once I had the pan prepped, I made the egg-y mixture by whisking together milk, flour, whole eggs, egg whites and Dijon mustard. Huh? What's with the flour in this so-called "omelet"? Well, using just a bit of flour will act as a structure builder - it will give the dish enough strength to hold the roll shape and resist falling apart.

To add a little color and a truckload of nutrients, a couple packages of frozen chopped spinach that we thawed and squeezed all the excess liquid out was strewn all over the top of the egg mixture once we poured it into the parchment-lined pan. This will then go into the oven - bake it long enough until the edges are no longer wet looking (just set) and then take it out to give the top a generous shower of sharp white cheddar cheese. The eggs go back into the oven as the last blast of heat quickly finishes cooking them through and melts the cheese into a slick of gooeyiness (if that's even a word).

As soon as you take the pan out, you'll be able to easily roll this slab of cooked eggs up since the parchment paper had a slight overhang to give you a piece to grip. Roll it somewhat tightly, but not too tight as you would a jelly-roll type cake as you don't want to squish all the cheese out. All of that melted cheese also acts as a good glue so the rolls don't unravel as you slice into the egg monster! Jeff gave me one of those famous uneasy eyebrow raises when I took a big scoop of mustard out of the jar to add in, but he was the first (funny how that goes...) to comment how its subtle tang was a nice counterpoint to the richness of the cheese and eggs. Great for a breakfast-for-dinner night, this could also be whipped up in a jiffy for a hearty meal in the morning too!